Boomerang - Sidestep Shots

Setup with two queues of players, one on either side of the post. The first player in each queue is slightly in front of the post, and the line goes behind the post. Place a cone about 2-3m in front of the post.

Each player has a ball, except the first player in one of the queues. This is the player to go first.

1. The first player runs forward and around the cone.
2. After reaching the cone they make a sideways movement, receive the ball, and take a shot.
3. They collect their own ball, and join the back of the queue that they received the ball from - this means they have now swapped queue.
4. The assist player, once they’ve passed the ball to the first shooter, goes next. They have to run in a wide arc to go around the shooter.

A focus point of this drill is to make sure the shooter catches the ball facing the basket. Often players will run around the cone and still be facing sideways when they catch the ball. This means they either shoot from a bad angle, or they have to rearrange their feet before shooting. This drill allows them to practice getting into a position where they catch the ball facing in the right direction so they can shoot easily.

This drill works best when there is a high scoring percentage, or if missed balls do not bounce away too far. Make sure the cone is placed close enough to the post so that this is the case for the players’ ability level.

See also the running in shot variation of this drill.